WHY SOBEK IS A BETTER FIT THAN TAWERET by Sobekra

First of all, a goddess of fertility should look fertile. Every early civilization greatly exaggerated the fertile female body, regardless of that group of people's location or culture. Women were depicted with rotund bellies, ample amounts of body fat (seen then as desireable, a refelction of wealth and duh... fertility.) and full, sagging breasts meant to reflect their capability to nourish and raise the child. . Based on these facts alone, it should refute the statue's identity.

I don't think the writers of LOST are naive enough to deviate from Taweret's physical appearance, especially when it is pivotal to her role as a diety. First of all, the body itself is very masculine. There are no telltale curves which are the first and foremost sign of femeninity, rather the broad shoulders and torso slope to narrow hips. The body is also fairly muscular and stocky, remnicent of the early epitome of masculinity: power! ful stocky bodies hardened by labour. On top of that, the body of Taweret as depicted in Egyptian mythology is not at all humanoid, rather it looks far more like a Hippopotomous than a human. (Hippos are very rotund which lends itself well as a vessel/metaphor for the fertile female body) Now, not only this, but the snout of 'Taweret' as seen in 'The Incident' also looks far more crocodilian. I've asked several people who have never seen LOST what their opinion of the statue compared to images of Taweret and the Egyptian God, Sobek.

I have yet for one of these instances to end in Taweret's favour, every individual choosing Sobek as the resemblances are uncanny. I'm very aware that the Egyptians depicted Tawaret's snouth as toothsome (unrealistic, might I add, as real hippos do not have tooth-lined jaws...) however its length and slope far more resemble the prehistoric structure of a crocodile's snout. Continuing in the theme of physiology of the statue, it also bears a lot ! of similarities to statues of Sobek and his depictions in Egyp! tian mur als.However more than it resembles Sobek, does it NOT resemble Taweret. In all scuptures, hyrogliphs and other depictions of Taweret brought up on any image search, she is long torsoed, rotund, and bears a very uncanny resemblance to the animal which she is based off of. Her only human attributes are her upright posture, breasts and long, humanoid arms. Even her toes and fingers are paw-like rather than fingers, or even hoofs. Her snout is short and apart from the dental discrepencies, identical to the face of a Hippopotomous. The four toed statue in LOST does not have a Hippopotomoid face, the snout being far too long and tapered to be anywhere near accurate. On top of this Taweret is never shown wearing a loincloth, rather, she is always nude. She is never depicted holding Ankhs as the ankh is a sign of eternal life, which is quite opposite to the act of chidlbirth, in which both parties are at their most vunerable. She has wide, large eyes which by the angle of viewing wo! uld most certainly be visible in the shot we are given in 'The Incident'. I have been looking high and low for an incarnation of Taweret in which she takes on a humanoid figure and have yet to find one from a legitimate/accurate source in which such is the case.

Now, another thing, for a goddess of simply fertility to be on this island as a pivotal icon and home to Jacob seems a bit ridiculous and almost trivial. Though childbearing and fertility are a VERY prominent motif in the series, I feel it has far more to do with the cycle of life and death than to warrent her as a Godess reigning over an Island often representative of the Gardon of Eden, the birthingplace of humanity, etc.

Sobek is a far better fit, in my opinion. You can draw multiple parallels from the history of his human borne inception to the Egyption dieties to his mythical origins and relationships with other Gods and his own responsibilities and abilities as a God.
I'll start with the relevance of his crocodilian face:

The Egyptians feared crocodiles in their natural state. Living on the Nile, near a particularly fierce speices of crocodile, it is only natural that this fear be borne and bred within the people. It is not unusual for cultuers to worship a diety affiliated with a certain danger/hazard in hopes of appeasing it. (Rain gods to nullify drought as an example.) and there was a beleif that perhaps worshiping and presenting offerings to a crocodilian god would settle the danger. Not only this, but in many regions along the Nile, there were different interactions with these Crocodiles, which can be seen as an allusion to the human interpretations of religion (beleivers vs. aethism) and the fickleness of our own beleifs. In some areas these crocodiles were tamed, and decorated with jewelery, ornaments and treated like kings. Other areas these creatures were hunted. This almost contradictory response to a threat is quite clearly representative of our own inability to conform to any sor! t of universal reaction to certain external forces. Sobek was also representative of two things (wihch are commonly debated as his role is never made explicitly clear). He is regarded as a destructive, evil force in earlier mythology. However, the more commonly accepted role of Sobek was to balance the evil, and repair destruction. Much like Yin and Yang, the complimentary forces of Sobek and Set cycled destruction and reparation. He was of a very dual nature, on one side having the nature of the crocodile meant that he was a powerful diety, often a metaphor for the might of the Pharoah. He was capable of protecting other Gods and spirits in the afterlife, however his volatility meant that he was also responsible for executing that ruthless power upon his enemies and spirits of the underworld which were morally unjust. Duality is a very prominent theme in LOST, phyiscally represented often by the colors black and white which can be seen reflected in the ideas of Yin and Yan! g (order/balance between good and evil) and games such as Chec! kers, Ch ess and Backgammon in which two sides of equal moral prominence must take turns in order to "win". This is easily also representative of Jacob and his nemesis' feud and even reinforced by their attire in the introduction to 'The Incident' in which the biblically just Jacob is shown in angelic white, and his nemesis in a dark black, even their hair colors fit into this themeatically. Sobek's relationship with creation and destruction not only highlights the duality of human nature and loyalty, but further accentuates one of LOST's primary themes, that of universal balance between good and evil, order and chaos.

Sobeks origins are beleived to be that he rose out of 'Dark Water', and that he was the creator of not only the world but the purveyor of balance and order in the universe. Though he is credited as a God of creation and order, he was often depicted as unpredictable, spontanious and was noted to allign himself with the forces of Chaos and Destruction. This dual nature is also a commentary on humanity's inability to rationalize and make decisions, often underlining the chaotic events that take part on the Island. Because of Sobek's nature and the nature of the Crocodile and it's relationship with humans, Sobek was known as an ambiguous God, borne of neither good nor evil, rather a powerful and unpredictable force which protected the balance of the universe. Sobek was not only representative of order, but a symbol of fertility linked directly with the Nile. He was credited with instilling the land with life and vegetation, making the land fertile. Not only this but stories clai! m he birthed the universe by laying his eggs on the bank of the nile, thusly linking him inevitably to the cycle of physical birth and the rebirth in the afterlife.

Even in relation to a certain character of LOST, Horace (who is commonly referred to as an allusion to the Egyptian God, Horus due to similarity in name & nature), Sobek fits, as in one myth Horus was noted to transform into a Crocodile to recover lost peices of Osiris. Sobek is also often associated with Osiris. However Sobek is of dual loyalties and joined forces with the God Set, who was his opposite, the black to Sobek's white. (can be compared to the somewhat civil yet tense relationship between Jacob and his Nemesis) Sobeks powers also align with those of various entities on the Island and the Island's nature itself. Jacob's ability to grant eternal life/youth (Richard Alpert), restore the use of John Locke's legs (Sobek was known to return eyesight and other senses to those in the afterlife.) and to balance the forces of creation and destruction through the balance of life and death within the Island. He does not take sides, rather lets what must happen, happen. Jacob! , at the very beginning of 'The Incident', claims that it "only ends once" and that anything "between that is progress", implying that the cycle of destruction and recreation is not something that just happens, rather is required of humanity to evolve. His view of the Island's nature, human nature and his own powers is that it is a cyclical timeline in which he must repair what "Set" destroys. Jacob also bestows abilities unto certain characters. He grants Richard Alpert eternal youth and life so that he may remain on the island throughout the ages as a messenger. He restores Locke's legs, after he restore's Locke's life after falling out of a building. (Though this is never explicitly confirmed in the show, it is quite clear after abundant mention of Locke's survival from that distance being a "miracle" and Locke's vacant, lifeless looking face moments before Jacob touches him, and his apparent ressurection afterwards.) As well as the ability to carry to term (bestowed upo! n Claire who surives the birth of Aaron, the first to term pre! gnancy o n the Island that anyone can remember.) It could also be disputed that Hurley's ability to see those in the afterlife and Walt's alleged 'powers' could be Jacob's forces at work.

And just as a last note, elements are a very prominent theme in LOST, also, used as motifs throughout the course of the five seasons thus far. Sobek was beleived to be comprised of four seperate Gods, merging together to create a balanced diety. The four elements he was beleived to represent are Earth(Geb), Air(Shu), Water(Osiris) and Fire(Ra), all of which are representative of multiple things on the island, and each which opposes the other, similar to the cyclical nature in which Sobek rules/exists and that which the island experiences.

In any event, this might be a bit tl;dr, but I don't trust a word ABC says in regards to the statue. They gain absolutely nothing by telling us what the statue's identity is, and in fact, it seems almost weird that they would tell us something that is such a pivotal piece in the way we understand and interpret the show and the various occurances on the Island. While Tawaret's fertility fits with the idea of people being unable to conceive on the island (after it's destruction) it is far more fitting that a God such as Sobek, which is representative of not only fertility, but duality and the cycle of chaos and order, be the centerpeice for the island and home to Jacob.

I used various references in this (over the course of a few weeks) so I can't really cite everything. Here's some images for comparison, though.

The statue as seen in LOST:
http://www.kerrydean.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/four-toed-statue-lost-tv-show-season-5-finale.jpg

A sculpture/model which is allegedly what they used as reference for the CG statue in the series. Note the masculine body, length of the snout, smalness of the eyes, etc. Doesn't exactly look fertile to me:
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/lostpedia/images/9/9a/Taweret_model.png

Taweret:
http://www.zarifas.com/images/products/h/hippo_goddess.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Taweret_in_faience.jpg/250px-Taweret_in_faience.jpg

Sobek. A far better fit, in terms of physiology. Note the Ankh, a sign he is noted to carry in almost every incarnation.:
http://www.biasci.com/polyorg/Sobek_idol.jpg
http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Sobek.svg/150px-Sobek.svg.png